


Maybe We Can Be Each Other's Company

by fiftyshadesofstony



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Confusion with Sexual Orientation, Explicit Sexual Content, Gay For You, M/M, Masturbation, Oblivious Steve, Oblivious Tony, Past Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Sexual Experimentation, pre-serum!Steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 09:06:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7095796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiftyshadesofstony/pseuds/fiftyshadesofstony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve takes up a second job bartending at The Black Widow, his best friend's bar. There he befriends genius billionaire Tony Stark, and from then on, his life takes on a much more interesting turn than anything he'd ever thought possible. The two become fast friends, spending as much time together as they can, but over time, they both begin to question everything they thought they knew about themselves as they develop feelings for one another. </p>
<p>Or </p>
<p>That time Steve and Tony thought they were straight until they met each other!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maybe We Can Be Each Other's Company

**Author's Note:**

> Hi friends! This is my submission for the 2016 Cap/Iron Man Reverse Bang! I got to work with the ever wonderful mgann for this story, and I'm just super jazzed about the piece that inspired this story. Through talking she suggested maybe doing a "gay for you" prompt, which I've never done, but was more than excited to try. So, I hope you guys enjoy the story and the art!!! 
> 
> Link to artwork: (coming soon)

Steve sat in bed, staring up at his ceiling in the darkness of his room. He’d woken up twenty minutes before his alarm was set to go off, leaving him nowhere near enough time to go back to sleep, but enough time to just lay there and think. Today was the first day of what was to be considered his new normal. He’d wake up, go to work, then at the end of his regular work day he’d be starting his new job, bartending.

He’d been working at Slice Magazine for a few years now, happily creating illustrations that helped give the lifestyle magazine some excitement and personality. Steve was beyond grateful to have a job where he not only got to do what he loved, but also got to work alongside his best friend, Bucky. He was more than happy with what he did for a living, but somewhere along the way, as his mother’s health began to decline, the bills started piling up. He thought that taking a few freelance jobs here and there would be enough, but Steve quickly learned that wasn’t the case.

After a night out at Bucky and Natasha’s apartment, while telling his oldest friends about his troubles, Natasha offered to help.

“Why don’t you come work for me?” Natasha asked, casually.

“Nat, I already have a job,” Steve answered.

“I know that, Stevie, I meant why don’t you take up bartending as a second job. I could teach you a few things to help fast track you through your certification.”

“I dunno,” the blond answered, trying his hardest not to seem unhappy with the offer.

Steve knew that Natasha wasn’t going to take no for an answer. He also knew, though, that she was aware of how stubborn he could be. Thanks to his small stature, Steve always felt it necessary to turn down any kind of handouts from friends. He was in a bit of a pickle, sure, but that didn’t mean he was going to walk around accepting jobs from his friends, offered out of pity.

“Listen, during the week, it’s literally just me, Sam and Clint working. I could really use someone else on bar. You wouldn’t be making as much in tips as the weekend crew, but once you work your way up to it I can move you around to see what the best fit is for you.”

At this point, both Natasha and Bucky’s eyes were on Steve. He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, as he gave a huff.

“As long as this isn’t a hand out, and as long as you don’t take it easier on me than you would any other bartender, then I’m in.”

“Oh honey, the Nat you hang out with is a completely different person than the Nat who manages _Black Widow_. If you suck, I will let you know and I will whip your ass into shape faster than you can bat an eye, trust me on that,” Natasha promised, giving a small smirk.

At the moment, Steve remembered feeling slightly terrified but mostly excited at Natasha’s words and the thought of working at her bar. Now that the day was here, it seemed that all of the excitement had dissipated and gave way to nervousness. Before he could get too bogged down with his thoughts, the alarm began to sound. Steve just sighed and threw back his covers. The day was going to start with or without him, so he figured he might as well jump right into it.

\---

Tony woke up, hazy and aching. It took some amount of time for him to get his bearings, but once he did, he quickly covered his head with his sheets, in an effort to ward off the day. He had been going on three weeks now. Three weeks of wallowing in his own self pity, in his large house, alone.

The last time he saw Pepper, she was carrying the last of her things to the moving truck out front.

“What’s going on?” Tony asked, confused.

Initially, Pepper disregarded the question as she moved her things.

“Pepper...Pepper!”

Tony grabbed the red head by the arms to look at him now. She tried to avoid his eyes for some time before she finally sighed.

“Listen, I knew if I told you beforehand, you’d put up a fight, but I don't want that, and deep down you know this is the best.”

“I don't...what's going on?” Tony asked again, this time a little more frantic.

“I...Tony I'm leaving. You and I both know things haven't been working out for a while.”

Tony stood there, dumbfounded for a moment, before scrambling to find something to say.

“This is...news to me. I mean we’ve had our ups and downs just like anyone else but I never thought it was something we couldn't fix.”

“At this point is it honestly worth fixing?”

Tony balked at that.

“Look, I love you, Tony, you're my best friend and I don't ever want that change. But this relationship, us dating, I can't anymore.  I’m sorry.”

She moved to give Tony a soft kiss on the cheek before leaving the house for good. He stood there, stumbling to find words. His brain was screaming for him to say something but his mouth just wouldn't work the way he wanted. He stood there, practically paralyzed, as the only woman he thought would ever love him walked away.

Once the initial shock wore off, he slowly stalked over to the bar, and poured himself a drink. From then on, he spent twenty-one solid days between various stages of sulking, drinking, and sleeping. He was perfectly content to live out the rest of his life like that too, but unfortunately someone else had other plans.

“Sir, Mr. Hogan is requesting access to your room,” Jarvis spoke softly.

Tony raised a hand to give a thumbs up, before grunting his approval to let Happy in.

“Tony?” Happy asked, sheepishly.

The brunet peeked one eye out from under his covers to look at his friend.

“What can I do for you today, Hap?”

“I...uh…” the man began, stammering. He cleared his throat and began again, “you need to get out of bed today.”

“Ahh, dear sweet Happy, that, my friend is where you’re wrong,” Tony spoke, sitting up against the headboard, “I don't _need_ to do anything if I don't want to.”

“Tony...you haven't left the penthouse in three weeks. There are people out there who think you’re dead and SI just hasn't managed to figure out how to break the news to the outlets.”

At that, Tony paused. He’d been so preoccupied with feeling sorry for himself that he hadn't managed to think what that would mean for his business or his reputation.

“It’s that bad, huh?” Tony asked, not entirely sure he actually wanted the answer.

“Miss Potts has been trying her best to keep rumors regarding your whereabouts from gaining any traction…”

Tony flinched. The last thing he wanted was to burden Pepper even further with this.

“Alright, meet me downstairs in 40 minutes to go into the office.”

“Will do, sir,” Happy replied with a sorrowful smile.

Once the other man had left his room, Tony fell to his side with a plop. How had he let things get this bad? He ran his hand over his face, giving a long sigh before resolving to get out of bed. Today was going to be a long and probably miserable day, so he might as well just jump right into it head first.

\---

Steve sat at his desk, concentrating, fully, on the illustrations he was creating for Bucky’s next piece on a new ramen bar.

“Hey man, why so tense?”

Bucky asked, seemingly popping up out of nowhere. Steve startled, dragging his hand across the pad he’d been drawing on. In that moment, he was endlessly thankful that he’d moved to digital renderings for his work.

“I feel like, at this point, you’re purposefully ignoring me when I tell you not to just jump out at me when I’m working,” Steve responded, making sure to sound every bit as annoyed as he was.

“Oh, I am,” Bucky replied with a smile, “anyway, shouldn’t you be getting ready to go soon? Your shift at _The Black Widow_ starts in 30 minutes.”

“Yeah I...I dunno, I guess I’m just feeling a little nervous,” Steve spoke, getting back to the work at hand.

“Why? I mean, Nat told me you scored the highest out of anyone else in your certification course. You seem to know your shit inside and out, so really, you’ll be fine.”

“I know, it’s just...I dunno. It’s something new and I just don’t want to screw up. Plus, what do I do if we have some drunk unruly customer. You know I’ve never been one to back away from a fight with someone who’s being an ass.”

Bucky just smiled down at the smaller man, knowing all too well just how eager Steve always seemed to be to stand up to literally anyone.

“What’s the point of having a bouncer if not for that exact reason?” Bucky answered, clapping Steve on the back, firmly, “But either way, you’ll be fine, I know it.”

Steve looked up at his friend to see a sincere smile with kind eyes. He gave a small nod before smiling up at the brunet.

“Yeah, you’re right, I’m gunna kick ass and take names tonight!”

“Simmer down now, I didn’t say anything about all that,” Bucky said around a laugh, “well, I’m gunna head out so I’ll see you tomorrow, but good luck tonight!”

Steve waved his goodbye before focusing on his drawings. The bar was just right across the street so it wouldn’t take long to get there. After another fifteen minutes, he figured it was time to pack up and head over.

On his walk to his new job, he internally ran through all the things he’d learned while training for his bartending certification. All the drinks he could remember with their exact recipes popped up in his mind, one by one. Before he knew it, he was standing in front of the bar. He took a deep breath as he looked up to see the _Black Widow_ name and logo atop the building.

“Are you just gunna stand there lookin’ pretty or are you gunna come on in?” Natasha asked, now standing at the front door.

Steve sheepishly smiled back at the redhead before giving a quick nod to remind himself that he was going to be fine.

The first hour or so of work was spent learning where everything was and how the store worked. After that, the rest of the night was filled with getting to know the other bartenders and serve the few customers they had. By the end of the night, as Steve made his way into his apartment, he was tired but beyond excited. He went to sleep that night more than ready for his next bartending shift.

\---

Day in and day out, Tony managed to wake up and make it through the work day. On his first day back, he got a lot of confused and curious looks, but just flashed his million watt smile and brushed it all off. He threw himself into his work, holding conference calls, going over proposals, and just generally trying to keep as busy as possible.

A few days into it all, though, Tony just felt tired. Pretending to have your shit together was a lot harder than it seemed, especially when you had to be convincing. All he wanted, come closing on Thursday night, was to walk into the closest bar and drink until nothing mattered anymore. He knew that wasn't the best way to deal with everything but for now, it’d suffice.

Tony wasn't exactly sure of the time when he left work, but it looked like it had just become dark out so it wasn't too late. He walked down the street a ways from SI to find a sultry looking bar. The building was black, with a red logo in the center of a seductive looking name. Tony figured this bar would be as good as any, and walked inside. Thankfully, it wasn’t very busy, so he took a seat at the counter. He quickly placed his head in his hands, and closed his eyes as he tried to gather his thoughts.

“I’m not sure if I should offer you a drink or a pillow,” someone said, from behind the bar.

“Not too sure which to ask for myself,” Tony answered, without changing his position.

“Well, how bout I fix you a drink and if that doesn’t help then I‘ll get to working on that pillow.”

Tony smiled to himself, momentarily, at the bartender’s words.

“I say you’ve got yourself a deal.”

“What’ll you have?” the voice asked, sounding amused.

“Whatever you feel like making,” Tony replied, honestly feeling too drained to actually figure out the answer to the bartender’s question.

He sat there in slight silence for a few minutes, initially worried, until he heard the mixing of a drink. At the sound of a glass being placed on the counter in front of him, Tony lifted his head, only enough to spot his drink and pull it towards him. He was almost positive he looked absolutely pitiful in this state but he couldn’t care less. He opened his mouth slightly to take in the straw sticking out of his glass. Tony took a sip of the drink, and upon the liquid hitting his tongue, his eyes went wide with delight.

“What is this?! It’s amazing!” Tony exclaimed, finally looking up to see the man who made his drink.

“It’s a Moscow Mule. They’ve recently become my absolute favorite, to make and drink, so I figured I’d make you one,” the man behind the bar answered.

Tony took in the man before him. He was short, shorter than the brunet anyway, with golden blond hair and the most striking blue eyes.

“What’s your name?” Tony asked, pulling the drink in closer to himself before taking another sip.

“Steve.”

“Tony.”

“Nice to meet you, Tony,” Steve said, smiling as he offered his hand to shake. Tony took it, and couldn’t help but notice how strong the shorter man’s handshake was.

“So, what brings you in here tonight,” the blond asked wiping down some portion of the bar.

“Ah, well, you’d probably have to get a few more of these in me before I’d be drunk enough to actually answer that question,” Tony answered in a somewhat bitter tone

“You do realize we’re at a bar, right? Getting you drunk enough to answer that question isn’t exactly a challenge for me here!”

Tony gave a small laugh at that, looking up at Steve to notice the sympathetic look on his face.

“Well, I won’t be taking you up on that offer, seeing as how I have to be at work, again, tomorrow, but for what it’s worth, it probably wouldn’t take very much of these -- what did you call this? A Moscow Mule?-- It wouldn’t take many of these to pry the truth out of me.”

“I just feel like you want me to put the effort into boozing you up so I can find out all your deep dark secrets. Is that what this is?! Are we trading booze for secrets, because I am all about that!” Steve joked.

For some reason, Steve’s words ripped a hearty laugh out of Tony. He could tell at this point that the blond wasn’t so much interested in actually finding out what had Tony feeling down, so much as he was just trying to make the man feel better, and he genuinely appreciated it. For the first time in days, Tony didn’t have to pretend to be anything other than himself. Even as a wallowing mess, this guy still seemed to sincerely want to talk to Tony, and something about that felt comforting.

Tony managed to sit there for the rest of the night, not even realizing that he’d sat there and talked to Steve until midnight.

“Well, Steve, looks like it’s time for me to be heading home,” Tony said, standing from his bar stool, “thanks for the drink, and for letting me talk you to death.”

“I should really be thanking you,” Steve offered, with a smile, “I’d have been standing here bored shitless, wiping down a clean bar top all night if not for you! Feel free to come in and save me from this crazy weeknight crowd any time you like!”

“I’m taking that as license to come in here and talk your ear off, which, you will probably come to regret,” Tony spoke, putting down is payment.

“I probably will, but only time will tell,” Steve answered around a smile.

“Well, have a good night, Steve,” Tony said, as he started walking towards the front door, “oh, and keep the change.”

Once outside, Tony decided to walk back to the office before calling Happy for a ride home. As he walked, he focused on the cool night air. The night hadn’t gone quite as he had expected, what with him only having two drinks in total, but it did just as much for him as he’d hoped. For those few hours that he was at the _Black Widow_ , Tony found himself able to focus on something other than how much he was hurting. It felt like he was finally able to breath, and Tony didn't care what it took, he was determined to hold on to that feeling for as long as humanly possible.

\---

Steve had had a great time at work for his first few shifts. Though the lack of customers made things a little dull, he loved spending time with Clint, Sam and Natasha. In an unexpected surprise, he stumbled upon a customer who seemed to be having a rough night. Steve simply wanted to lighten the man’s spirits, but ended up thoroughly enjoying his company.

While closing, it seemed his new friend was the talk of everyone on staff.

“So?” Clint asked almost as soon as the last customer had walked out.

“So...what?” Steve replied, confused.

“How was it?” Clint elaborated. Once he saw that Steve wasn't immediately picking up on what he meant, he rolled his eyes.

“The customer that you spent pretty much all night talking to,” Clint prompted.

“Ohhh yeah, Tony! What about him?”

“What about him...are you serious? That’s Tony Fucking Stark is what about him!”

The somewhat playful smile Steve had on his face fell immediately, as he started to put the pieces together.

“Wait you mean Tony Stark as in...Stark Industries?”

Clint simply nodded his head, pleased that the shorter man finally understood. Steve staggered back a bit and took a seat. He thought the man he was speaking with looked familiar but he couldn't quite place it. He’d been talking with _the_ Tony Stark all night and hadn't even known it. Suddenly, at that realization, Steve jumped to his feet to find the small folder with Tony’s payment.

“What are you doing?” Sam asked, utterly confused by Steve’s erratic behavior.

“I’m looking for the last check that I had tonight...found it!” the blond exclaimed, holding it up in the air.

He quickly opened up the booklet to look at what Tony had left behind for him.

“He...I…” Steve stammered looking into the booklet

“What is it man? Spit it out!” Clint said, coming over to see what all the fuss was now about.

Steve just looked at the both of them as he held up the cash that Tony had left as payment.

“He left this, and said to keep the tip...He gave me a $500 tip.”

Everyone’s jaw dropped at that.

“I’ve never heard so much silence coming from any of you in my life, so either something big happened or you’ve all just died standing up,” Natasha spoke, as she came into the front of the bar. Upon taking in the faces of all three men, her demeanor became more serious.

“What’s going on?” She asked, joining the three of them behind the bar.

“Not only did Tony Stark come in here tonight and spend the entire time chatting it up with Steve, but he left the man a $500 tip!”

Natasha’s eyes lit up at that! She looked at Steve and shot him a smile that conveyed more excitement than he’d ever seen from her.

“Well, Steve, looks like hiring you is about to pay off in a big way!”

 

* * *

 

“So, if I check your bank statement am I going to find that you’ve thrown away all your money at a certain bar named after a spider?”

“Well hello to you too, Rhodey,” Tony responded, spinning around to watch his friend walk into the workshop.

“Hi,” Rhodey offered with a smile once he reached the brunet, “now answer the question.”

Tony gave a playful sigh before putting down the tools he’d been working with. He wasn't exactly sure how to answer his friend’s question. Had he spent all of his money at _The Black Widow_? No. Had he spent every night after work there since meeting Steve? Maybe…

“I’ve not thrown away all of my money there, so nothing to worry about! Good talk!” Tony answered, clapping Rhodey on the back before moving around him to leave the shop.

“If that's the case, then why am I seeing all these stories from trash magazines saying you’ve been spending every day there for the last couple of weeks?” Rhodey asked, concern lacing his voice.

“Would you believe me if I told you that I'm literally only going there to see someone? I’ve befriended one of the bartenders…”

“I feel as though maybe you should take a little more time before jumping back into dating, but I'm glad you’re trying to move on. At any rate, get the girl’s number and hang out with her somewhere other than the bar. If you like her enough to spend every night there then you like her enough to take her to dinner.”

Tony stopped dead in his tracks. He turned to face his friend to clear up any confusion.

“I'm not...trying to date anybody. I’ve legitimately become friends with a bartender there. _His_ name is Steve.”

“His name?” Rhodey repeated, seemingly confused.

“Yeah, he recently started working there and he’s great! He’s got a dry sense of humor, similar to my own, and just...life doesn't seem so complicated there. I walk in, have a drink or two, get to know Steve, then come home.”

Rhodey still seemed to struggle to wrap his head around it all.

“So...you’re not trying to date... _Steve_?”

“Last time I checked, I wasn't,” Tony answered around a laugh.

“Hmm, alright, well the same idea still applies. If you enjoy this guy’s company then get his info and hang out in a less tabloid-worthy location.”

Tony threw the idea around for a bit, wondering if Steve would even be interested in hanging out with him outside of work.

“Look, I’ll think about it, ok?” Tony offered.

“That's all I ask.”

The two stood in silence for a moment before something dawned on Tony.

“Hey, Rhodey?”

“Yeah Tony?”

“Why are you here?”

The brunet asked, realizing that he hadn't asked his friend over.

“Oh, I wanted to see if you wanted to get lunch. I figured if you had all this money to throw away at a bar then you’d have no problem taking me out for a nice meal!”

Tony rolled his eyes but laughed anyway.

“Gee, you sure do know how to make a guy feel like more than just your sugar daddy.”

Rhodey clapped Tony on the back as he made his way to the door.

“That’s what I’m here for buddy!”

\---

Steve found himself with nothing to do one Saturday afternoon. Sam and Clint were both resting up for their later shifts, while Bucky and Natasha were away for a weekend trip. Steve wracked his brain for what he could do, and settled on visiting an art museum.

The blond really couldn’t remember the last time he’d taken a day for himself to just walk around and enjoy some really good art. Between working two jobs, and visiting his mom whenever he could, Steve really hadn’t had the time to just do something for himself. He thought about that fact on the way to the museum; the fact that he really hadn’t had a chance to breath as of late. Since taking the bartending job, his finances became significantly less stressful, which Steve was endlessly grateful for. But his more demanding schedule and lack of real, restful sleep had begun to exacerbate some of the ailments Steve suffered from when he was younger.

The museum always seemed bring Steve out of whatever he was dealing with in his day to day life. Being around so many magnificent pieces was almost therapeutic for him in a way, and this trip was no exception. Steve found himself meandering longer than usually, realizing that he really needed this, needed to be in a place that genuinely felt good for his soul.

As he sat in front of one of his favorite piece from the new Degas exhibit, he heard someone walk up behind him.

“Mind if I take the seat next to you?” A male voice asked.

“Spot’s all yours,” Steve responded, sliding over to make room.

It only took a moment for him to realize that the man now sitting beside him was Tony Stark. For some reason, this fact sent a strange feeling through the blond. He just shook it off before turning to face his neighbor.

“Tony...hey!” Steve spoke.

The brunet turned with a look of surprise and excitement to see who was beside him.

“Well well well, fancy running into you here,” Tony replied, giving a smooth smile.

“What are you doing here?” Steve asked, genuinely surprised someone like Tony would spend his Saturday at a museum. The taller man sighed before giving a sad smile.

“Jarvis, my family's butler, used to bring me here all the time when I was young. Since he’s been gone, I've always found that coming here helps me clear my head.”

“Oh,” Steve responded, half surprised he got a reply “well I'm sorry to hear about Jarvis but I'm glad to have run into you.”

“Yeah?” Tony asked

“Yeah. I mean it’s nice to know you exist outside of the bar,” Steve responded around a laugh.

“As hard as it is to believe, I actually do have a life outside of _The Black Widow_. That was actually something I wanted to you about,” Tony began, somewhat nervously, “I wanted to see if you possibly wanted to...I don't know, do something outside of the bar sometime?”

“Yeah, I think that sounds like a good time. Why don’t we do something now.”

“Wait what?” Tony asked, taken by surprise.

Steve couldn’t help but break out into a smile at the brunet’s response.

“Yeah, I mean, now is as good a time as any. We’re both clearly free since, we’re here. Why don’t we finish going through the rest of the museum, then go get something to eat?”

“Sounds like a plan!” Tony replied, with a smile.

Steve came out looking to take a day for himself, but as they walked through the remainder of the museum, he realized that spending the day with Tony was much better.

\---

Tony was laughing so hard that his sides hurt. He had tears coming out of his eyes, and he was gasping for breath. He wanted to stop laughing, he really truly did, but every time he thought he had himself under control, he’d catch a glimpse of Steve and lose it all over again. This went on for a good ten minutes before the brunet was truly able to compose himself. When he did, he took a deep breath, with a smile on his face.

“Oh man, okay, I think I’m good now.”

“Are you sure?” the blond asked, with a playful tone of annoyance.

“Yeah, yeah I’m good,” Tony replied, wiping at his eyes.

“I’m so glad the story of my near death experience brought you so much joy,” Steve offered with a smile.

“Steve, you literally just told me about how some geese tried to chase you down while you were feeding them when you were four. That’s hardly a near death experience.”

“Says you! You weren’t there, Tony, you didn’t see the blood lust in their eyes!”

With that, Tony was launched into another fit of laughter. It had been six hours since he’d first run into the shorter man at the museum. In that time, they walked around the city to find lunch, ate food, then continued to walk around the city, eventually ending up at Steve’s apartment. There, they had a few beers and learned a little more about one another. As they sat there laughing uncontrollably, Tony thought that asking Steve to hang out outside of the bar was a genius idea, though he’d never actually say as much to Rhodey.

After a few minutes, Steve looked at his watch and gave a somewhat sorrowful look.

“Well, it looks like I’m going to have to call it a night. I’ve got an early morning ahead of me tomorrow.”

Tony’s smile faltered, slightly, but he gave a small nod.

“Alright, yeah, I should probably be heading out anyways. I’ve got a bit of work to do in the workshop tonight.”

“Workshop?” Steve asked, confused.

“Yeah, I have a workshop in my basement,” Tony offered, nonchalant.

“I genuinely forget that you are _the_ Tony Stark until you say stuff like that,” Steve said, shaking his head as he huffed out a laugh.

Tony stood and smiled down at the smaller man.

“Well, next time, we can hang out at my house and I’ll show you around the place, how ‘bout that?”

“Add dinner to that and I’d say you’ve got yourself a deal,” Steve responded, standing up and moving towards the door.

Steve opened the door for Tony. He walked through the doorway but turned to say his goodbye.

“Alright, well, get home safely,” Steve spoke, giving a smile.

“Sure thing. I’ll see you later,” Tony replied, giving a wave before he turned to head home.

Before he made it to the entrance of the apartment building, he called Happy for a ride. When his driver showed up, he quickly stepped into the back of the car.

“How’s it going Hap?” Tony asked, clapping the man on the shoulder, as he usually did.

“Oh uh...it’s...definitely going,” Happy answered nervously.  

“What’s wrong?” Tony asked, narrowing his eyes.

Happy cleared his throat before responding.

“You have a...guest at the house.”

Tony bristled at that.

“Who’s at the house?” He asked, now nothing but business.

“They asked that I not tell you they were waiting for you,” was all Happy said before they continued the rest of their ride in silence.

As they pulled up to the mansion, Tony became even more tense as he saw the person waiting at the front door. Once Happy brought the car to a stop, he turned to the back seat.

“Sorry, boss.”

Tony gave a solemn nod, before exiting the car. He turned to face the car as he closed the door, taking a breath to collect himself enough to put on his best camera ready smile.

“Well hello there, Pepper. What can I do for you today?”

“Really, Tony? I’m the one who taught you how to perfect that fake smile for media interviews. Do you really want to use that on me too?”

The smile on Tony’s face fell flat at that.

“No, I suppose not,” he answered, ashamed that he’d been caught, “let’s go inside.”

Pepper waited for Tony to answer the door, something that now stung, as he realized she no longer felt comfortable using her key.

Once they made their way to the living room, Tony moved to the bar to pour himself a drink.

“Was there anything in particular you wanted to talk about?” Tony asked, turning to face Pepper, with a glass in hand.

“Seems the alcohol you have here is still fine, so I’m a little confused as to why you’ve been spending all of your time at a bar.”

“I’ve  honestly come to miss the straightforwardness that you have. It’s a quality that not enough people exhibit today.”

“Can we be serious for five minutes here? I’m genuinely concerned about you and wanted to check up on you.”

“Well, I’m fine, so you’ve nothing to worry about,” Tony replied, taking a sip of his drink.

The face he received from the redhead let him know she didn’t believe a word he said.

“You always tried so hard to figure out what you were feeling. Please just do us both a favor and be honest with me.”

“This isn’t your problem anymore, Pepper. _I’m_ not your problem anymore. Isn’t that why you left? To not have to deal with this kind of shit anymore?”

The heartbreak was clear on Pepper’s face, the second those words left Tony’s mouth.

“Oh, Tony,” she said, moving to stand in front of the brunet, “is that what you really think? That I just threw you away because I didn’t want to _deal_ with you anymore?”

Tony looked away at that question.

“Listen,” Pepper began, taking the drink out of his hand and placing it on the bar, “we grew apart, that’s it. You deserve to be with someone who can give you every bit of themselves, and I just couldn’t. I couldn’t be everything to you. Your CEO, your girlfriend, your best friend. All of those are different hats, and there was no way I could wear all of them while actually do a good job of it. I had to make a decision and I know that it might not seem like it, but I honestly did what I thought was best for you. But all that aside, I still love you, you’re still my best friend and I still want you to be nothing but happy.”

Tony let those words sink in for a moment. He had been trying for what felt like so long to pretend to be strong, but as if a switch had been flipped, he crumbled, and fell into Pepper’s arms.

“It’s been so hard to just go on like everything’s alright, and I just...really miss having you around to make everything less terrible.”  

“I’m still here Tony, I haven’t gone anywhere. I’m always going to be here to help you whenever you need it. You don’t have to drown your sorrows alone in a bar every night.”

Tony pushed himself up, out of Pepper’s arms to look at her.

“That’s not what I’ve been doing there. There’s a bartender that I’ve been going there to see…”

Pepper flinched at that. It was so subtle that Tony almost missed it.

“Oh? You’re seeing someone?” She asked, trying not to sound as hurt as she was.

“It’s a _guy_ , whose name is Steve. What is it with  you and Rhodey thinking I’m out on the town looking for a new love interest practically five minutes after being dumped?”

Pepper let out a sigh of relief, before giving a genuine smile.

“Well I’m glad that both of us were wrong, but why are you going to the bar to see this guy?”

“So you might not have been 100% wrong about me trying to drown my sorrows in alcohol,” Tony started, shrugging his apology at the disapproving look he was given,

“I’m sure it’s no news to you that after you left I took it pretty hard…” Tony began, trying to gloss over how bad those three weeks actually were, “so when I got back to work, by the end of the day I was just tired. Tired of faking like everything was fine, and I just wanted to have a drink and not think about anything, so I walked into _The Black Widow_ and this short blond guy just came over and started talking to me. He made a wicked Moscow Mule and I just ended up staying there the rest of the night talking to him. I think I maybe only had two drinks, total. But it was just nice getting to sit there and not have to be anything for anyone else. I’ve been going back ever since, and oddly enough I just came from hanging out with him. I ran into him at the museum and we just decided to make a day of it.”

Tony was thrown off by the look of contemplation on Pepper’s face.

“What?” he asked, confused.

“Nothing I just...nothing,” she answered, giving a warm smile, “I’m glad you met this Steve guy. If he’s really that great, you should bring him to dinner some time with Rhodey and I.”

Tony playfully rolled his eyes at that.

“You know, you guys aren’t my parents. I don’t need you to vet every person I decide to befriend.”

“Yeah, but we’re gunna keep doing it so…”

The both of them laughed together for the first time in too long. Tony looked at Pepper, the way her nose crinkled and her eyes lit up while she laughed and a sense of calm understanding washed over him. He loved Pepper with everything he had, but deep down, he knew that this was how they were meant to be. Best friends, and nothing more. Realizing this now, though, brought nothing but happiness to Tony. He had spent so much of his time after their breakup mourning what was lost to truly focus on what he still had, until this moment. He became overwhelmed with the thought, and just threw his arms around the redhead, taking her by surprise. She let out an audible ‘oof’ as he wrapped her in a hug.

“Thank you,” Tony said in a small voice.

It took a second but once she put it all together, she wrapped her arms around the brunet as well. Tony started the day really just looking to clear his head and reminisce about old times with Jarvis, but the events that unfolded were far better than he ever could have hoped for.

\---

Steve woke up bright and early the next morning, to get a head start on his visit. It’d be an hour long drive to the assisted living home where his mom was staying, and he wanted to make sure he’d be able to spend as much time with her as possible. These visits had become so dear to Steve, since they were finally able to get her on a course of treatments that truly seemed to help.

His mom developed Multiple Sclerosis when he was in middle school and it had steadily been getting worse. When Steve graduated college, it had become apparent that she would need to live in a community where someone could look after her. Having his mom live there gave Steve peace of mind, knowing that if she had a flare-up someone would always be there to help her, but the distance did weigh heavy on him. He tried to make it out to her every other Sunday, but with his two jobs now, that made things a little difficult. This would be Steve’s first visit since starting at _The Black Widow_ , so he knew he had a lot of catching up to do.

As Steve drove, he thought about what exactly he’d want to say. Memories of the past few weeks flooded through his mind, yet somehow the most prominent ones all involved Tony.

_Should I tell mom about Tony?_

Steve asked himself. The brunet had become a regular part of his life over the last few weeks, so it seemed important that he tell his mom about the man. As he continued driving, Steve began to wonder, why exactly it was so important that his mother know about Tony. The only reason his brain could rationalize was that it’d be interesting to hear that her son was friends with _the_ Tony Stark. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that wasn’t it, but he pushed it aside as he began to focus on the drive again.

Once he arrived Steve made sure to stop at the front desk to say his greetings to the lovely women there who always took such great care of his mom. When he finally got to her room, knocked lightly, so as to not startle her. It only took a moment for her to unlock the door, but once she opened it, she stood in the doorway with a huge smile on her face.

“Hey ma’” Steve spoke softly.

“Don't ‘Hey ma’ me! Come over here and give me a hug!”

Steve did as he was asked, giving his mom a hug as if he hadn't seen her in years. It felt like that was the case anyway.

“Alright, let me get my chair and we’ll go for a walk,”

Steve watched, with a sad smile, as his mom brought out her wheelchair. He tried not to dwell on the fact that there was a time when she was healthy and could walk for miles on end, and focused on the fact that he was just lucky to have her around at all. She didn’t let her condition get the better of her, so he refused to let himself be consumed by pity for her.

It didn’t take them long to get downstairs and outside. Once there, Steve began to push the wheelchair, just wandering towards the path they usually took during their visits.

“We making our way to the lake?” Steve asked, knowing the answer.

“Yep!” Sarah responded cheerily.

They walked in silence, enjoying the weather and the lovely scenery. Once at the lake, they took a seat at a table shaded by a large tree.

“So, how’s everything been since I was last here?” Steve asked.

“Oh, you don’t want to hear about my boring life. I want to know what’s going out with you, out there in the big city!” Sarah replied.

“Ma, no. I don’t want to just sit here and talk about me.”

Sarah rolled her eyes, but smiled at  her son anyway.

“Well, I’ve literally only left twice to get groceries since I’ve last seen you. We had a movie night, I met with my women’s group for bible study, and I’ve started making fruit smoothies every morning. Now that you’ve been caught up on my boring life, you can tell me about you!”

Steve gave a small laugh and shook his head, but obliged.

“Alright well, I’ve taken a second job…”

“Why’s that?”

“Ma...you know why,” Steve responded.

He knew his mom didn’t want him to break his back working to keep her taken care of, so he quickly continued before she had a chance to argue.

“I’m working at Nat’s bar after work at the magazine during the week. It’s something totally different than I’m used to but it’s so much fun! I’ve gotten to meet some really great people.”

“Oh?” Sarah asked, clearly very interested, “Anyone in particular?”

“Yeah, actually. You know Stark Industries?”

“Who doesn’t?!”

“Well, Tony Stark, the owner of Stark Industries has become a regular at the bar.”

Sarah frowned at that, to which Steve was quick to clarify.

“Oh, no not like that! He came in a while back after a rough day and I served him. We got to talking and have become pretty fast friends. He’s been coming in regularly, mainly to just talk. He only ever has a drink or two, nothing crazy.”

Steve  suddenly heard a ping coming from his phone. He ignored it, as not to be rude.

“Go ahead and answer it,  honey, we’ve got all day, so I don’t mind.”

At that he took his phone out, and smiled to see that he had a text from Tony. It was a list of a few exhibits and pop-up restaurants that were coming to town that he wanted to check out together. Steve couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face as he read all that Tony had planned for them over the next few weeks. He quickly responded to let the brunet know that he couldn’t talk now but he was excited for their plans, then put his phone away. When he looked up, he saw a soft smile on his mother’s face.

“What?” Steve asked, confused.

“Who’s that?” Sarah asked, still smiling.

“Oh, that was Tony. I ran into him at the art museum yesterday so we spent the rest of the day together and decided to make a habit of it! Going to museums then getting great food!”

Sarah seemed to consider this a moment, then nodded her head.

“So, tell me more about this Tony guy.”

“Are you sure?” Steve asked, genuinely not wanting to monopolize the conversation by talking all about himself and his friend.

“Yeah. I mean I want to hear about all your friends, but this one is new, so I’ve got a lot to learn about him.”

With that, Steve began telling his mother all about Tony. He talked about the rest of his friends as much as he could, but Sarah seemed to be the most interested in Tony, which Steve really didn’t mind. When their time came to an end, they walked back to Sarah’s building, a comfortable silence filling the air. Once at her apartment, Steve helped his mom out of her chair. They made quick work of their goodbyes, as Sarah had become extremely tired, and Steve wanted to get started on the drive home at a good time. He promised to be back as soon as he could, while hugging Sarah goodbye, to which she replied to tell all of his friends, especially Tony, that she said hello.

On the drive home, Steve thought over his time with his mother. Some part of him wanted to dissect why it was that his mom took such a great interest in Tony out of everyone else. He told himself that it had everything to do with the fact that the man was famous, and left it at that. As much as he tried not to dwell on it, though, Steve couldn’t help but feel some sense of excitement at the thought of his mother clearly liking Tony so much. He didn’t know why, but it meant more to him than he was willing to admit that his mother approved of his new friend.

As the drive continued, Steve turned on his favorite playlist, and let the music as well as thoughts of his next time with Tony carry him home.

 

* * *

 

Tony sat outside of his favorite bistro waiting for his friends to arrive for breakfast. As he waited, he sat on his phone, texting Steve, a much more regular occurrence as of late. Since running into each other at the museum, Tony and Steve have become somewhat inseparable. At least as inseparable as their schedules would allow. If they weren’t spending time together, they were texting or talking on the phone. At this point their friends knew if they had their phone in hand, they were talking to one another.

As Pepper and Rhodey walked up, Tony burst out into laughter, at a picture Steve had sent him, of the blond practically swimming in a sweatshirt Bucky had left at his place.

“Let me guess, you’re talking to Steve.” Rhodey said as he sat across from the man.

“How’d you get to be so smart?” Tony asked, typing his good-bye to Steve.

“Honestly, I'm surprised you’re putting that thing away just for us. We’re that special!”

Pepper teased.

Tony just sneered at them both.

“Whatever, you guys are just jealous I found somebody I like talking to more than you two.”

“Jealous?!” Rhodey gasped, mock offended, “Please, the more this guy deals with your ridiculousness, the less I have to. In reality, I owe this guy a fruit basket for taking you off my hands.”

“Love you too, honey bunny,” Tony responded, blowing Rhodey a kiss.

Rhodey dodged out of the way of the gesture, with a laugh. Once they ordered, and their food arrived, they started up the conversation again.

“So seriously, Tony, when are we going to meet Steve?” Pepper asked, unfolding her napkin to place in her lap.

“Soon enough,” Tony replied, before taking the first bite of his quiche.

“Yeah, that’s not going to keep working, I hope you know that,” Rhodey replied taking a sip of his water.

Tony continued eating, taking a few more bites of his food before addressing his friend’s statement.

“Look, I just don’t want you guys to give him the third degree is all.”

“Why wouldn’t we? You’re our friend, Tony, we just want to make sure you’re not being taken advantage of,” Rhodey offered.

“Me, being taken advantage of?” Tony scoffed.

He knew his friends meant well, and truth be told he really did appreciate it. But that wasn’t what Steve was about.

“If you knew Steve, you’d know that’s not the kind of guy he is. He barely lets me buy him lunch let alone try to steal my money.”

“Well we’d know that about him by now if you’d ever let us meet him,” Pepper chimed in.

“Fair point…” Tony offered, not wanting to fully admit that his friends were right, “How about this, next weekend I’ll set something up, ok? Is that enough to get you guys off my back?”

“Yes,” both Rhodey and Pepper answered in unison.

“Alright, good. Now can we please talk about something is, preferably how great my hair looks today!”

With that, Pepper and Rhodey erupted into laughter, leaving the subject of Steve behind. Tony didn’t know what it was but the thought of his friends not approving of Steve terrified him. He didn’t understand his feelings on the matter, but that was just something he’d have to sort out later.

\---

Steve and Bucky sat together at a desk in one of the empty offices  at work. It was early Saturday morning, so they weren’t worried about anybody coming in and bothering them. Bucky was hard at work typing up a piece on the food festival from the previous weekend, while Steve was making final edits on some of this illustrations. They did this often, coming in to work at least one Saturday a month to get ahead, and not feel so overwhelmed during the week.

Today felt a little off to Steve though. It seemed as though Bucky had something on his mind that he wasn’t bringing up.

“Is there something you wanted to talk about? You seem kind of off and I feel like there’s a lot of tension going on right now,” Steve spoke, keeping his eyes on his work.

He heard the falter in Bucky’s typing, which caused him to look at the brunet, to see a look of worry on the man’s face.

“So…” Bucky began, “Nat’s been telling me about your new friend, Stark. She’s got nothing but great things to say about the guy, mainly because since he’s been photographed at the bar, it’s brought in tons of business. But Clint and Sam tell me he only ever comes in to talk to you. He’ll buy a drink or two but he’s really just there for you.”

“It sounds as if you think there’s an issue here,” Steve prompted, hoping to help Bucky get to his real point.

“Clint told me Stark left you a $500 tip. That’s a lot of money to leave behind just because you like _talking_ to someone.”

“What are you implying?” Steve asked, narrowing his eyes.

“I’m implying that maybe this guy has some motives other than just being your friend. I just want to make sure that you’re not getting yourself into something you don’t really want to be a part of.”

Steve rolled his eyes at Bucky’s words.

“Come on, Buck. Really? That’s not what this is at all. I’m not whoring my friendship out for cash. Plus if that’s what he’d been after, I’m sure he would have made some kind of proposition, but he’s done nothing of the sort. He’s just a guy who happens to be rich who enjoys my friendship.”

“Yeah, well I’d like to be the judge of that…” Buck replied, somewhat under his breath.

“Fine. I’ll set something up so you can meet him next weekend. How ‘bout that?”

“Good, then I’ll be able to see what he’s really about, for myself.”

“Great,” Steve replied, slightly annoyed.

He appreciated his friend’s concern, but it wasn’t necessary. Steve was capable of taking care of himself. He didn’t need Bucky to try to protect him, especially not from Tony. He decided to let it go, though. Bucky would see for himself how great Tony was once he meet the man. Steve was sure of it.

\---

“Are you sure you want to watch this?” Steve asked for what felt like the hundredth time.

“Yes, _mom_ , I’m sure. Will you just play the damn movie?!” Tony replied, only slightly annoyed by the smaller man.

With Steve working earlier and Tony meeting up with his friends for breakfast, they figured they didn’t have enough time for their usual museum and late lunch, so Steve invited the brunet over for movies.He was all to happy for the change in plans until he came to find out they’d be watching horror movies. Tony tried to play it cool, as if horror movies didn't scare the shit out of him. People always assumed since he was a genius he’d know better than to be afraid of some so seemingly harmless, and yet, here he was, pretty much hiding behind his hands and the blanket that he was sitting under throughout the entirety of _The Conjuring_ . Next up was _The Haunting in Connecticut,_ and Tony was trying his best to mentally prepare for it while also defending himself against Steve’s light teasing.

“Oh ha-fucking-ha. Listen just start the damn movie, would ya?”

“Such salty language, my goodness!” Steve said, placing his hand on his chest, mock offended.

“Yeah, whatever,” Tony muttered, bumping shoulders with the blond.

Steve playfully pushed him back before standing reaching for the remote to play the next movie. The pair of them sat there, feet propped up on the coffee table in front of them, paying close attention as the movie went on. Tony hadn't noticed it but at some point Steve had moved closer to him. They sat in silence watching the movie, Tony trying his hardest to be more inconspicuous in showing his frightened actions. By the time the movie was over, Tony gave himself a small pat on the back for not freaking out nearly as much as he thought he would. As the credits rolled, he turned to look at the man beside him and finally realized Steve was asleep. He hadn't actually noticed when the blond had fallen asleep, which was surprising considering the man was sleeping on his shoulder.

Tony looked down at the smaller man and smiled to himself. He moved slowly to reach for the remote, figuring he could watch a show until the smaller man awake. As an episode of _Blue Planet_ began to play, Tony moved his arm to put it around  Steve’s shoulders to make him more comfortable. He felt his eyes become heavier as the show went on. He tried as hard as he could to keep his eyes open, but as he began to drift, his head lightly fell to the rest on top of Steve’s. Tony knew this was a bad idea, but he figured that was for tomorrow-Tony to deal with.

\---

Steve woke up with a slight kink in his neck from the way he had been sleeping. He moved to try to sit up but realized there was an arm around his shoulder. That realization helped wake Steve up enough to figure out that the arm belonged to Tony. The blond startled quite a bit at that, enough to slightly wake the man he’d been resting on.

“Nnh, what’s wrong?” Tony asked, barely awake.

“Tony I...I am so sorry I didn't mean to fall asleep on you,” Steve offered.

“Stevie? That's fine don't even worry about it. I think you’re totally cute so it’s fine,” Tony replied, pulling Steve closer to him to snuggle into before letting sleep take him fully.

It only took a few seconds for his words to register before Tony sat straight up, more awake than he’d probably ever been in his life.

“I...I…” the brunet stammered, “I am so unbelievably sorry, Steve. That was the sleep talking and I just...I’m sorry.”

Steve stood up immediately, rubbing his hands down the sides of his legs just for the sake of having something to do with them.

“Oh gosh, don't even worry about it. I uh...I should probably head home,” Steve spoke, looking for his keys.

“We’re at your apartment.”

That brought the smaller man to a screeching halt. He couldn't turn to look at his friend, just put his head in his hand for a moment.

“Totally fine,” Tony began, “I have a lot of work I need to get done before the work week starts so I’ll just...see myself out.”

Steve couldn't even bring himself to say bye to enable before he left. He took a deep breath once he knew he was alone.

“Fuck” Steve whispered to no one.

He picked up his cell phone from the coffee table and furiously began to text Natasha.

“ _Nat, I think I fucked up, I need to talk to you_ ”

“ _Give me an hour and I’ll be right over,_ ” Natasha replied.

Steve fell backwards onto the couch and threw his arm over his eyes, somehow managing to fall back asleep. He was awoken, suddenly, by knocking at the door. Seeing that it was unlocked and knowing it was Natasha he just yelled for her to come in.

“Hey, is everything ok?” She asked, quickly making her way to Steve’s side, on the couch.

“Not really, I’m kind of freaking out here,” Steve answered, honestly.

“Ok, whatever it is, start from the beginning,” the redhead prompted, giving the man a reassuring rub on the back.

Steve took a deep breath before beginning.

“Tony came over last night to watch a few movies. We were supposed to go to the museum and a late lunch but since we were both busy earlier in the day we figured a movie night would be a good idea. So he came over, we watched some of my favorite horror movies, and...I ended up falling asleep on his shoulder. Somehow he fell asleep too and we didn’t wake up until this morning…”

“Is that...Steve is that all? That’s really nothing for you to be worried about,” Natasha offered, hoping to calm the blond.

“Yeah it wouldn’t be anything to worry about if not for the fact that when I tried to apologize, he said he thought I was cute so it was fine.”

The hand on Steve’s back came to a complete stop at that.

“Does it bother you that Tony said he thought you were cute?” Natasha asked, softly.

“...no…” Steve answered in a small voice.

“Then what’s the problem here?”

Steve nearly jumped out of his seat at her question.

“How are you not seeing that me not being bothered by it _is_ the problem?!”

It took a moment for Natasha to calm Steve down enough to be able to ask her next question.

“Do you think Tony’s cute too? Is that what this is about?”

“Yes...no? I don’t know! I’ve been trying to avoid putting much thought into anything I’ve been feeling other than the fact that I genuinely enjoy being in Tony’s company.”

Natasha just sat there, giving Steve a knowing smile, to which he groaned and threw his arm over his eyes again.

“Listen, if you think you have a crush on Tony, that’s fine. I think you should really talk to Bucky about this though.”

There was an immediate look of horror plastered on Steve’s face.

“Fuck no. This information stays between the two of us and does not leave this apartment. Understood?”

She gave Steve a look of disapproval, but upon seeing that he wasn’t going to budge on this, she rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Fine.”

Steve let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding.

“Listen, thanks for coming over to let me talk to you about this. I just...I think I’m going to take the rest of the day to get myself together. “

“Are you sure? I don’t have to go in to work at the bar tonight, and I don’t have any plans with Bucky so I could stay if you wanted.”

Steve gave a small, sincere smile at the offer.

“Thanks, but really, I’ll be alright. I just need to think, is all.”

“Alright well, call me if you need anything, ok?” Natasha offered, giving the blond a hug.

Steve held on a little longer than necessary, as a silent thank you to her. Once they pulled away, she stood and saw herself out. Steve spent the rest of the day doing anything he could to keep his mind off of everything. By the time he had gotten ready for bed, though, all he could think about was the interaction from that morning. He went through every single detail that he remembered about sleeping on Tony, the way he felt, the way he smelled. All things he hadn’t really thought he had the time to notice before falling asleep on the man, but apparently he’d filed away anyway.

It was no surprise, then, that when Steve finally did fall asleep, the only dream he had was of Tony. This dream, though, was something Steve had never expected. It involved the two of them, completely naked, bodies entwined. Tony making promises to take care of Steve, caressing his body, and making him feel things he’d never felt before. Tony worked slowly, to bring Steve to his release, and once he was almost there, the blond woke up to the not so wonderful sight of a raging hard on. He groaned, embarrassed and slightly ashamed, as he shoved his hand down the front of his boxers to finish what his dreams had started. If he came to thoughts of Tony finishing him off, he wasn’t going to admit it.

Steve sat in bed, panting while looking up at the ceiling. He knew it now, without a doubt, that this was going to be a problem.

\---

Tony tossed and turned as he tried to get to sleep that night. After coming back from Steve’s apartment, he went straight down to the workshop. He didn’t say a single word to Happy on the ride home, he just sat in silence, then practically ran out of the car, to lock himself away with his work. He threw himself into some of the more troublesome projects that he had been working on as of late. The kinds of projects that required 100% of his brainpower and left no room to think about anything else.

That night, though, when Tony had less control over his thoughts than he would have liked, his dream ran wild. The brunet found himself faced with a naked Steve, working himself open, and begging for Tony to take him. The smaller man was panting, telling Tony that he could use him however he wanted; that all he wanted was to make the taller man feel good. Somewhere in his mind, Tony wanted to resist, but his dream self wasn’t going to pass up such an amazing opportunity. He obliged the blond’s requests and sank into him. From there, it didn’t take long for both of them to finish, Tony coming with Steve’s name on his lips.

The brunet awoke to realize he had been humping the bed and whispering Steve’s name while he had been dreaming. He felt a cool pool of cum inside his boxers, once he brought his hips to a stop. Tony cursed himself, embarrassed that he’d had a wet dream like he was a god damned fourteen year old. He couldn’t even look himself in the bathroom mirror as he wet a towel to clean himself off.

Refusing to let himself fall into the trap of sleep again, Tony just changed his underwear and went right back down to the workshop, until it was time to get ready for work. Once he got to the office, he spent a good amount of time trying to drink his own weight in coffee, just to be awake enough to deal with the hot mess that had become his life. After about an hour of pointedly avoiding everyone and anyone, Tony decided he had had enough. He left his office and went on a search for Pepper. It didn’t take long to find her, as he knew she’d probably be in her office.

He knocked, lightly, then stepped inside, not waiting for a response. Pepper looked up, slightly annoyed, but greeted him anyway.

“Hi Tony,” she said, looking back down at her work.

“I need to talk to you,” was all Tony said as he made his way towards the redhead’s desk.

“Tony, no. I’m extremely busy right now. This will have to wait,” Pepper replied, not once taking her eyes off her work.

“This can’t wait, Pep. I need to talk to you _now_ ,” Tony spoke, trying to convey how frantic of a situation this really was.

“Tony, I can’t…”

“I had a dream that I had mind blowing sex with Steve and I need to talk to you about it RIGHT NOW because I’m freaking out!” Tony blurted all at once.

That warranted Pepper’s attention. She called to the front desk to ask them to hold all of her calls and push back the next few meetings she had scheduled. Once that was done, Pepper gave Tony her full attention.

“Ok, Tony, start from the beginning and tell me everything.”

“I don’t know…” Tony began, now feeling somewhat shy, “I was over at his place on Saturday night watching movies with Steve when he fell asleep on me. I ended up falling asleep as well. The next morning he tried to apologize while I was half asleep, and I accidentally told him it was ok because I thought he was cute.”

“Do you think he’s cute?” Pepper asked.

“I mean...I...yes?”

“Ok, go ahead and finish your story,” she prompted in an effort to keep Tony from staying stuck on that fact for too long.

“After that, I ended up apologizing for saying anything. When I tell you the whole thing was awkward, I mean it was the textbook definition of the word. So I went home and just closed myself off in the workshop to keep from having to think too much about the whole thing, but when I went to sleep last night, my mind went wild. I mean...I haven’t had a dream like that in years and I just...really don’t know what to do about it.”

Tony took a deep breath once he finished his story. Pepper seemed to consider his words carefully before diving in.

“Ok so what part of this is freaking you out? The fact that you have a crush on a man, the fact that said crush seemingly snuck up on you or the fact that you had such a vivid dream about Steve?”

Tony thought over the questions before giving a small shrug.

“I’d say it’s more so the last two than anything else. I mean I’ve found men attractive before, but never anything like this. It’s just startling that I didn’t see any of it coming. But now after that dream...I don’t know, I feel like that’d be something I might want?”

“What, sex with Steve?”

“No! I mean...yes, but not solely. I think I’d like to date him too?” Tony asked, as if Pepper would have the answer for him.

She offered him a sympathetic smile at that.

“Listen, I think you’re allowed to want whoever makes you happy. If that’s Steve then that’s perfectly fine.”

Tony gave one quick nod before looking up at the woman in front of him.

“You know, I never thought I’d be having a conversation like this, especially not with you.”

“Yeah well it comes with the best friend territory,” Pepper spoke around a small laugh, “now if you don’t mind, I have to get back to work so, please go away.”

Tony smiled at Pepper, as he stood to leave. He gave a small wave before walking back to his office. Once there, Tony ran a hand through his hair and sighed. This was a huge mess he was in, and Tony had absolutely no idea how he was going to get himself out of it.

 

* * *

 

Steve tried his best to put his new found feelings for tony aside as the week came to a start. He genuinely wasn’t sure what he was going to do or how he was going to handle his friendship from here on out, but true to Tony Stark fashion, the brunet couldn’t stay silent for long. Steve received a text around Tuesday evening asking if he and his friends wanted to have a get together with Tony and his friends that weekend. The blond ignored the butterflies in the pit of his stomach as he replied that they’d be there.

It seemed that that was all it took for Steve and Tony to get back on track with their friendship. Tony didn’t stop by the bar for the rest of the week, but he did resume texting Steve, even more so than before. It seemed that from the moment he woke up until the moment he fell asleep, Steve was talking to Tony, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t love it. The thought of having feelings for a man were still so terrifying to him, but Steve wouldn’t allow himself to think too hard on it. He just wanted to live in the feelings of excitement that this whole situation caused.

By the time Friday night, rolled around, Steve was buzzing with excitement and anticipation. He couldn’t wait for his dearest friends to finally get to spend time with Tony, but even more so, he couldn’t wait to finally see the man again. As he rode with Natasha, Bucky, Sam and Clint, Steve could barely contain himself.

“You seem like a kid on their way to Disney right now,” Clint observed.

“I’m just excited for you all to finally get to meet Tony and spend time with him!”

“Literally the only person in this car who hasn’t met Tony is Bucky,” Sam spoke.

Steve immediately caught Natasha’s eye in the rearview mirror, the two of them exchanging a look. He was fully aware she knew exactly why he was so excited.

“Well I mean…no one else has spent time with him outside the bar,” Steve said, trying to recover.

His friends seemed to find that acceptable enough, and continued on with a different conversation. Everyone fell silent, though as they pulled up to Tony’s mansion.

“Wow,” was all Sam could say looking at the home.

A smile spread on his face, watching his friends take this all in. On the outside everything seemed so grand and so fantastic, and it was, but Steve knew that there was more to Tony than just this. He couldn’t wait for his friends to learn that too. They parked and made their way up to the front door, where they were greeted by a very well dressed, lovely redhead.

“Hello, you must be Steve,” the woman said, looking down towards the blond.

“I am,” Steve said smiling up at her, “and you must be Pepper. It’s nice to finally meet you!”

Steve reached out his hand to shake, never once letting his smile falter, even though he knew she was sizing him up.

“Great, well come on in. We can do introductions with everyone once we get to the sitting room.”

Pepper led the way as they walked through the house to find Tony and Rhodey. Once they were all together, Steve immediately went for the brunet.

“Hey,” he said, not even trying to contain his smile at this point.

“Hey yourself,” Tony said, echoing the same smile down at the man.

Steve heard someone’s throat clear, then looked to the man at Tony’s side.

“You must be Rhodey?”

“That would be correct,” Rhodey said giving a small nod, while extending his hand.

“It’s great to finally meet you, and let me say, thank you for your service,” Steve spoke, shaking his hand.

Rhodey seemed caught off guard by that, but smiled wide all the same. The rest of his friends moved through their introductions, and once everyone had met, Tony ushered them to the dining room. In front of them was an amazing spread of dinner.

“Did you do all of this for us?” Steve asked, amazed.

“Well yeah, I promised you dinner the first time you came over and you never got it so…”

In that moment it truly felt like they were the only two in the room, but Clint quickly brought him back to reality.

“Are we just gunna stand here staring at all this or are we actually going to eat it?!”

With that everyone moved to take a seat. Once food was served, everyone began to talk to one another. It felt surreal to finally have all of his friends under the same roof with Tony and the people he cared deeply about. All he had wanted was for everyone to get along and thankfully, that seemed to be the case. Steve found himself deep in conversation Pepper about modern art, when he noticed that Bucky and Tony had gone off somewhere. He silently hoped that his best friend hadn’t given Tony too hard a time, but once he saw the two of them walk back into the room laughing, he knew that everything was ok. The night went on with good food and even better conversation, but once everyone was ready to bring it all to an end, everyone said their good-byes, promising to do this again soon. Tony walked Steve and his friends to the front door, and while everyone else had walked out the door, the brunet reached out to hold Steve back for a moment.

“Hey, I just wanted to say thanks again for bringing all of your friends by. I’m glad I finally got to meet them,” Tony spoke, keeping his hand on the blond’s arm.

“Yeah, I had a great time too,” Steve replied softly.

They stood there for a moment, a strange feeling coming over the shorter man that he had to fight to suppress. After a moment Steve took a breath then smiled.

“Alright well, I’ll talk to you later. Thanks again,” he said before squeezing the hand Tony had placed on his arm before turning to leave.

As he got into the car, he heard his friends talking about how great a time they had.

“Seriously, Steve, you becoming friends with Tony is probably the best thing that’s happened to us!” Sam spoke, excitedly.

As they made their way down the driveway, Steve looked out the window back at the house and smiled.

“I couldn’t agree more.”

\---

Tony stood at the door, watching as Steve and his friends drove away. Once he finally turned to go back to his friends, he saw them standing not far behind him.

“So, that was Steve, huh?” Pepper asked, with a smile.

“Yep, that's him and the whole gang,” Tony replied pouring himself a glass of water.

“I can definitely see why you’re interested in him. He seems like a really great guy,” Rhodey stated, giving a knowing look to his friend.

Tony choked on the sip of water he’d taken. After his coughing fit ended, he looked at Pepper, slightly bewildered.

“Really, Pepper?! You told Rhodey?!”

“Well, yeah. If I hadn't told him he would have found your gratuitous flirting tonight a little odd,” the redhead answered.

“I wasn't...there wasn't any gratuitous flirting,” Tony tried to defend himself.

“Keep telling yourself that buddy,” Rhodey replied with a smug smile, “anyway you need to figure that situation out because I'm not about to sit here and watch you line after somebody, like a 15 year old.”

Tony ran his hand over his face and groaned. He never thought the day would come when his friends would tease him about liking someone, but here they were.

“I hate the both of you. So. Much,” Tony said, from behind his hand.

“Yeah well you’re stuck with us, so deal,” Pepper said, moving towards the brunet to give him a tight hug, “thanks for tonight.”

“As much as I hate you both, thanks for meeting Steve and his friends tonight.”

Rhodey moved to pace his hand on Tony’s shoulder.

“Glad we got to meet your favorite guy.”

Tony smiled at both his friends before seeing them out. As soon as he was alone, he took his phone out to text Natasha.

“ _I need to talk to you. Meet me tomorrow for coffee._ ”

Tony paced back and forth waiting for a reply. When his phone finally chipped, he jumped.

“ _Alright, see you tomorrow.”_

Tony breathed a sigh of relief, and made his way off to bed. He was going to need all the rest he could get to tackle tomorrow’s endeavor.

\---

Steve woke up the next day feeling conflicted. He was all too pleased that his friends liked Tony, but something had been nagging at him. When he’d first told Natasha about his feelings for Tony, she’d told him to talk to Bucky about this. For the life of him, Steve couldn't figure out why she had told him to do so, but he figured now might be a good time to figure it out.

“ _Hey Buck, you free to grab a quick bite?_ ”

“ _Yeah. I’ll meet you at yours in 45 minutes._ ”

Steve busied himself getting ready, and by the time he stepped out of his room, showered and fully dressed, he heard his friend knocking at the door. Steve took a deep breath to collect himself, before letting Bucky in.

“Hey,” the taller man said, walking into the apartment.

“Hey,: Steve replied, closing the door and following the brunet to the living room.

“So, where’d you want to go for food?”

“Oh there’s a cafe right next door, we can go there.”

“Ok, well you clearly have something you wanted to talk about so why don’t we do that then eat?” Bucky offered.

Steve hadn’t thought much about the fact that the subject matter at hand was pretty personal, but upon hearing Bucky’s suggestion, he agreed. He moved to take a seat on the couch, hoping the taller man would do the same.

“Alright so what’s up?” Bucky asked taking a seat.

Steve honestly didn’t know where to begin with this. How was he going to tell his friend that he had feelings for another man?

“I confided something in Natasha earlier this week and she suggested that I talk to you about it.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah…”

“Ok, well what’d you tell her?” Bucky prompted.

“That I uh...maybe...sort of...have feelings for...Tony,” Steve flinched once he got the whole statement out.

It took a moment for Steve to finally look up at Bucky but once he did, he was met by an expectant look from the man.

“What?”

“I’m waiting for whatever it is that you were clearly worried about telling me,” Bucky supplied.

“You and Natasha,” Steve began, shaking his head,”what I just told you was what I was worried about telling you!”

“What that you like Tony?”

“Yes!” Steve yelled, exasperated.

Bucky looked at the blond for a moment, slightly confused before fully realizing what Steve was trying to say.

“Steve, look, I don’t care. I don’t mean about the situation as a whole, I mean about you liking a man. It’s less of a deal than you think it is, honestly. I happen to think every guy we hang out with is attractive. As a matter of fact there was a point in time when I even had feelings for you.”

“Wait, what?!” Steve asked, truly startled.

“Yeah, when we were younger, I thought you were the best guy around. I think I had a crush on you for two years, easily, but I kind of squashed those feelings, knowing you weren’t interested in guys. Little did I know I just wasn’t the right one,” Bucky said around a laugh.

“I...huh?” Steve was having a hard time processing everything.

Bucky just rolled his eyes and smiled.

“Listen, Stevie, it doesn’t matter who you like or date or whatever, as long as they’re a good person. As long as they treat you with the kindness, love and respect that you deserve, then it doesn’t matter.”

“Hmm,” Steve said, finally seeming to understand what Bucky was getting at.

The pair of them sat there for a few moments, before the brunet clapped his hands together.

“Alrighty, well, if that was it, I’m ready for food!” Bucky said, moving to stand.

Steve followed suit, before a question popped into his head.

“Wait, hold on,” Steve said, reaching out for Bucky’s arm, “last night you and Tony disappeared somewhere. What’d you say to him?”

A huge smile broke out on the taller man’s face.

“Ah, yeah, that. I told him that you’re a very special guy, and that all of us care about you. I let him know that if he was up to anything hinky that he’d have all of us to deal with, which I assured him he wouldn’t want.”

“Then what were you two laughing about when you came back into dinner?”

“Well, after I told him all that, he said he was fully aware that if he was up to anything, dealing with your wrath would be worse than anything anyone else had to offer. I knew after that that he was an alright guy.”

Steve smiled to himself at the story, feeling a sense of relief at having told Bucky about his feelings, and happiness at the fact that his friends approved of Tony.

“Well, since we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s go eat. I’m starving!”

The two of them finally made their way out to get breakfast. Though Steve felt as though he’d gotten a huge weight off his chest, there was still one more person he needed to tell before he felt that he could truly come to terms with his new found feelings.

\---

Tony walked into the coffee shop next to _The Black Widow_ to see Natasha sitting there with a large mug in front of her.

“Hi,” he spoke, pulling out the chair across from her.

She looked up at him and gave him a smile that reminded him a lot of the face Pepper would make when she was being polite but clearly meant business.

“Don’t worry about ordering anything, by the way, I got a red-eye for you,” Natasha spoke evenly.

Yep, Natasha and Pepper were practically the exact same person. It wasn’t long before Tony’s drink was brought out. Once it was placed in front of him, he took a sip, taking a moment to savor the flavor and aroma.

“So now that we’ve all got our caffeine, why’d you call me here?” Natasha asked, getting straight to the point.

“Well, I didn’t really know who to come to with this but...it seems I’ve taken a liking to your good pal Steven and I don’t really know what to do about it.”

“Why’d you have to say it so weird, Stark?”

“I don’t know, I’m trying to be formal because you’re kind of terrifying right now!” Tony answered, only slightly kidding.

“Well, tell me a little bit more about your feelings for Steve. I need to fully understand the situation we’re dealing with here.”

“Ok, well uh...I don’t really know where to start,” Tony stammered, honestly.

He hadn’t really given much thought to this past the fact that he thought the smaller man was extremely adorable and wondered what it’d be like to kiss him, among other things.

“Just, start with what you hope to gain out of telling me that you have feelings for Steve.”

“I just...I don’t really know, if I’m being honest. I want to know if I have a chance, I’ve never really asked Steve about his dating history or preferences and it seems like it’d be obvious that I had a motive if I asked out of nowhere. But also I just need to know if I’m wasting my time even entertaining the thought of all this.”

Natasha looked at Tony, clearly trying to size him up and see if he was being truthful. He assumed she found his answer to be sufficient enough, because she finally gave him a sincere smile.

“Alright, look, I’ll see what I can find out for you but I don’t want you to get your hopes up. Thinking someone is attractive and wanting to be in a legitimate relationship are two completely different things. So just be prepared for this to not go exactly the way you hope.”

“And if things go at least slightly the way I hope, will you help me?”

Natasha seemed to consider this a moment. She took a sip of her coffee before answering.

“I’ll think about it and let you know after I figure out where Steve stands, how ‘bout that?”

Tony gave a small smile then nodded.

“Thank you for helping me with this,” the brunet said.

“Oh, don’t thank me, I haven’t actually done anything for you yet. But with all the business that you’ve managed to unintentionally bring to my bar, I figure this is the least I could do.”

Tony laughed at that and lifted his cup up in cheers. The two of them continued to talk as they finished their drinks, then went their separate ways. As he walked towards his office, Tony felt a sense of fear and excitement for what was to come.

\---

Steve was standing at the corner in front of his apartment building, waiting. He’d received a text from Natasha not long ago telling him to meet her outside. He asked why, but wasn’t given any kind of explanation. When he finally spotted the redhead coming towards him, he waved.

“Hey, so what is this about?” Steve asked, cutting right to the chase.

“Well, I got to thinking about what we talked about earlier, about you and Tony. I want to help you figure out whether or not this is something you truly want.”

“Ok...how do you plan to do that?” Steve questioned, suspicious.

Natasha gave a somewhat nervous smile.

“You have to trust me, ok? There’s a good chance you’re not going to agree to go if I tell you where we’re going ahead of time, but just...trust me.”

Steve narrowed his eyes at his friend as she stood in front of him, still holding that same nervous smile. After a moment, the blond finally gave up.

“Alright, I’ll go. But i reserve the right to change my mind about trusting you once we get to where we’re going.”

“Deal!” Natasha agreed, all too excited.

The two of them made their way to Steve’s car in his apartment garage. Natasha requested the keys, as she was the only one who knew where they were going, and Steve obliged. They drove in silence for a good twenty minutes before Natasha parked in a public lot, surrounded by various shops.

“So before we get to the store, I really need to stress how much you should trust me here. I’m only doing this for your benefit and only have your best interest at heart.”

Steve couldn’t help but give her another suspicious look before they exited the car. They walked over to some shop called _Le Plaisir Et L'extase_ with nondescript signage or window displays to indicate what type of store it was. The moment they walked inside, however, it became immediately obvious that they were in a sex shop.

“What are we doing here?” Steve asked through clenched teeth, feeling his face begin to burn with embarrassment.

Natasha quickly pulled the blond behind her through the store, warding off any employees who asked if they needed any help as they made their way to the items that they apparently came to look at.

“We’re here to find you a vibrator,” Natasha said, just above a whisper.

“Why on earth do I need one of those?!” Steve shouted, gaining looks from a few close by customers.

“You need one of them, to help you figure out if that’s anything you’d be interested in. If you try it out and you don’t like it or the idea of being intimate with Tony isn’t appealing then he’s probably not the person for you, which is perfectly fine. It’s just...there’s more to relationships than just swooning over someone and thinking they’re attractive. If this component of a relationship with Tony doesn’t suit you then you’ll know there’s no need to further pursue your feelings.”

Steve stood there, hands balled into fists at his side as he took in Natasha’s words. He wanted to storm out of the store, drive home and leave his friend there to think about what she’d done, but as much as he hated to admit it, she did have a point.

“Fine,” Steve spoke, making sure every bit of annoyance seeped through, “let’s just hurry up and get out of here.”

They looked through the selection of vibrators, and Steve felt that he was in some perverted version of Goldie Locks. They weren’t looking for anything too big or too small, but something just right. That thought made the man’s face burn even more as they continued looking. It only took a bit longer for them to come upon a red and gold vibrator that looked to be the most favorable. After placing it in their basket, Natasha selected a handful of lubes and threw them in as well. Steve followed her to the register, practically hiding behind her during the entire transaction. Once they made their way to the car, he felt like he could finally breath.

“Just so you know, I’m never trusting you with anything ever again,” he said, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Yeah well I figured as much,” Natasha said.

Steve could hear the smile in her voice and wanted to throw the biggest tantrum, but just kept his eyes shut for the remainder of the ride. When he felt the car come to a stop, he opened his eyes to see that they were back at his apartment. He exited the car, not even pretending to give the bag of...objects, a second thought. Natasha followed him to his front door and the second he stepped inside, he felt a finger tapping his shoulder. Steve turned to see the redhead holding out the black plastic bag.

“Wouldn’t want you to forget this. Try it out and let me know how it goes,” Natasha said with a smile.

Steve muttered some curse words under his breath before snatching the bag from her hand.

“Yeah, ok, whatever. Bye,” Steve said, shutting the door in her face.

Steve didn’t even know where to begin with how embarrassed this whole situation made him, but he just tried to remind himself that there was a point to all of this. He went about his day, making an early dinner, watching a few shows, and catching up on some reading before resigning to just go to his room and get this foolishness over with. He pulled up a few Google searches to figure out exactly what he was doing. He then poured a small amount of each lube into his hands to figure out which one he felt would suit him best. After figuring everything out, Steve got himself situated with a video and ready to go.

As the video began to play, Steve worked himself open with his fingers. He spent a good deal of time just trying to get past the feeling of an intrusion, and after some time, managed to find the pleasure in it. When he thought he was ready, he began to inch the vibrator inside, making sure to take time to adjust to the size. Once the toy was fully seated, he switched it on the lightest setting, Steve took a deep breath, ready to see if he was really enjoy this. He turned his attention back to the porno that he had playing, as he began to work the vibrator in and out. Though he was enjoying the sensations, the video wasn’t motivating him the way he had hoped. He turned the it off and looked up at the ceiling, deciding maybe he’d be better off using his imagination. He flipped the vibrator onto the lowest setting and fully seated it inside himself, as he took hold of his cock and closed his eyes.

The first thing he thought of was Tony. He imagined the man on top of him , moving within him and and working his cock. Steve could see the look of lustful determination on the man’s face as he worked the blond closer and closer. Steve began to thrust upward into his hand and downward onto the vibrator in time with the man in his fantasy. Suddenly, he imagined Tony leaning down to whisper in his ear.

“ _I wanna see how pretty you are when you come for me._ ”

The brunet said. Almost immediately, Steve felt the vibrator hit his prostate and without warning, he came, hard, moaning Tony’s name. He sat there, trying to regain his breath as the toy continued moving within him. Once he’d regained himself  he reached down to turn it off and remove it, gasping at the sensation. He reluctantly reached over to his phone and typed out a message to Natasha.

“ _Yeah so...we can move forward with the whole Tony thing._ ”

 

* * *

 

 

The day that Tony had spoken to Natasha, he received a text from her by night’s end saying she’d help him with Steve. Since then, the brunet had been unbelievably nervous about what her plan would entail, but he trusted that whatever it was, it’d be successful. Tony had a stretch of business trips and out of town meetings for the following two weeks, but he figured that would give Natasha enough time to set something up.

While away, Tony tried his hardest not to text Steve too much, in an effort to avoid saying anything about the whole thing. It was hard, not talking to the man, but it was easy enough to blame hour long meetings or the time difference for the lack of communication. It was a long two weeks, but when he returned home, he received a message from Natasha that they needed to meet, with Steve, as soon as possible. It sounded urgent, so he agreed to meet the next day after work.

It felt like the day dragged on longer than usual. Tony attributed half of it to the rainy weather and the other half to the fact that he was waiting for his meeting with Steve and Natasha. Once work was over, Tony hurried to _The Black Widow_ , speed walking through the rain. He found the pair sitting at a table in the back, and was excited to make his way to them until he saw the apprehensive look on the blond’s face. He stopped once he reached the table, trying not to let his smile falter.

“Hi,” Tony tried, lifting his hand up for a small wave.

Steve fiddled with his hands as Natasha looked up at him, seemingly apologetic.

“Listen, uhm, I brought the both of you here so we could talk things out. No crazy scheme, no in depth plan, just talk, ok?” Natasha spoke, gesturing for Tony to take the third chair at the table.

He sat down looking between the two of them for some type of indication as to what was going on.

“So, I’m just going to be upfront; you’re both interested in each other. Instead of me being the go between, I want the two of you to sit here and talk this out.”

With that, Natasha stood, looked at the both of them and walked away.

“Well...this isn’t what I was expecting,” Tony began, giving a nervous laugh as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Yeah I just...more than anything I wanted to say I’m sorry for this whole mess. I got some kind of idea about things between us before you left for your trips but while you were away you kind of made it clear that you didn’t really want those things so, I’m sorry.”

“Wait, what gave you the impression that I didn’t want whatever it is you were thinking you wanted?” Tony asked.

“The lack of you talking to me was kind of a big indicator…”

“Steve I was trying to keep from saying anything about all this before I’d found out what Natasha had in mind. I had asked her to help me figure out how you felt and if I even had a chance. When she told me she’d help, I just figured I should back off until she told me the best course of action. It probably sounds a little childish but...I just didn’t want to overstep my boundaries. If you weren’t interested in a relationship, I at least wanted to keep you as a friend.”

The blond thought on Tony’s words for a moment, before shaking his head and reaching down to grab his things.

“What’s wrong?” Tony asked somewhat frantically.

“I’m really sorry, I just don’t think I can do this right now.”

Steve stood, and made his way for the door to leave. Tony sat there, dumbfounded at what had just happened, when Natasha ran over.

“What the hell just happened?”

“I don’t know! It seemed like things were going well, then he just jumped up and left!”

Tony answered, trying to figure out where he could have gone wrong.

“Well don’t just sit here, go after him!” Natasha said as she thrusted an umbrella at him.

He looked at the item for a moment before registering the redhead’s words. He moved to go after Steve, not really sure where he had gone or how to track him down. Thankfully, after twenty minutes of walking, Tony found Steve standing on an overpass. He walked over, covering the man with his umbrella. They stood there in silence, looking out at the city around them.

“I never really knew what Stark tower looked like from out here, but now that I’m seeing it, I’m kind of glad Pepper nixed the whole huge ‘Stark’ sign idea.”

“I just...I’m scared y’know? I’ve never done anything like this before, dated a guy I mean...or anyone, really…”

Tony looked at the blond, stunned.

“When you’re so much smaller than everyone else, it’s kind of a turnoff for most women.”

“Steve,”

“No, it’s ok. I’ve been so blessed with the family that I have in my ma and my friends so it hasn’t been anything that’s really bothered me much. I just always figured I’d be alone. Then you come along and it’s like my whole world was turned upside down. I hadn’t even thought about what could happen when we first met. Thinking about it now, I don’t see how we didn’t figure this out sooner,” the blond gave a small laugh at that.

“Yeah, I can be quite oblivious to these types of things. But also, I didn’t really see this coming either. All I know is that I think you’re cute as hell, and I wouldn’t hate it if I got to take you out on an official date as opposed to whatever you want to call what we’ve been doing this whole time,” Tony said, bumping the smaller man’s shoulder.

They turned to look at one another, and Tony felt something overcome him. He reached out to take hold of Steve’s face and pulled him into a kiss. It was soft and all too short, but Tony couldn’t help but think it was perfect. As the kiss ended, they rested their foreheads together.

“We’ll figure this out, ok? We can take things slow and just figure it all out as we go,” Tony offered, rubbing the shorter man’s cheek with his thumb.

Steve moved to take hold of the hand resting on his face and sighed softly.

“I just need some time to process everything,” Steve replied.

Tony knew what that meant, that the shorter man just needed space to think, which he was happy to provide. He gave Steve a kiss on the forehead before taking a step back to look at the man. He knew what he wanted to say, wanted to try to convince Steve that this was right, they were right. But he put his feelings aside to give the the blond what he had asked for.

“Take all the time you need.”

\---

Steve went the rest of the week without speaking to Tony, in an effort to try to think clearly. More often than not, some part of him would say this was a mistake while the rest of him screamed for him to find the brunet and kiss the life out of him. Steve just couldn’t wrap his mind around any of this, now that it was a reality instead of a far off fantasy. He knew how his friends all felt about it, but there was one last person he needed approval from before making any kind of decision. He decided then that once work ended on Friday, he would make his way to see his mom.

Friday at work came and went, much faster than he anticipated, but the drive seemed never ending. Steve felt as though he had a million thoughts running through his mind, trying to figure out what to say, wondering what his mother would think. He was practically making himself sick with the thought of how terribly this could go. As he pulled into the assisted living facility, he had to remind himself to breath.

Walking past the front desk, Steve stopped to give a brisk greeting, not wanting to seem rude, before heading up to Sarah’s apartment. He knocked on the door, realizing then that he hadn’t actually checked to make sure that she was even home. It took several minutes, but finally the door was opened, and Sarah met him with a surprised smile.

“Steve? What are you doing here, it’s not Sunday,” Sarah stated, moving out of the way to let her son in.

“Yeah I uhm...needed to come see you about something,” Steve spoke, stopping to give Sarah a kiss on the cheek on his way to the couch.

“Is everything alright?” Sarah asked, voice laced with concern.

“Well I...sort of started seeing someone, I guess you could say,” Steve began.

“You did?”

“Yeah, it kind of snuck up on me but...they are really great. I have a lot of fun when we’re together and when I found out...they had feelings for me, I was excited.”

“Sounds like you’ve got a good thing going,” Sarah said, with a soft smile.

“I just...I’m confused I guess. I’m not sure if they...if we…”

“Let me stop you right there,” Sarah interjected, “I know you’re talking about Tony.”

“Wha...how?!” Steve asked, astonished that his mom put it all together.

“You get this look on your face every time you talk about him. Your eyes light up and your smile softens and your whole being just seems brighter. Even when you’re worried, talking about something that’s hard for you, it’s still obvious to see that you’re talking about him.”

Steve sat there, letting Sarah’s words sink in. Before he had a chance to speak, though, she continued.

“I assume you came here to ask if I would be ok with you seeing a man.”

Steve gave a sheepish nod at that. Sarah moved to take both of his hands in hers, looking her son in the eyes.

“Honey, I could honestly care less about who you date, as long as they have a good heart. I can tell just by the stories you’ve told me of your time with him that Tony has a wonderful heart. At this point, I’d be mad if you _didn’t_ date the man.”

Steve let out a laugh at that.

“Ma, I honestly don’t know how I got lucky enough to be your son,” the blond said, moving to wrap Sarah in a hug.

Once they pulled away, Sarah tilted her head towards the door.

“Alright, enough with the sap. Get out of here and go find Tony. I expect to hear a full report on how things go, when you come for your next visit.”

Steve stood and smiled wide at the women in front of him.

“I love you, ma.”

“Yeah yeah, I love you too Stevie, now go!”

The second Steve sat inside his car, a laugh ripped it’s way out of him. He sat in the garage, laughing for close to five solid minutes before turning the car on to head home. He felt light enough to float at this point. A huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders and his mother’s words were enough to erase any doubt that he had. He knew now what he needed to do.

\---

Tony had decided to stay late at work that night, just to get a jumpstart on some of the new R & D designs. Truth be told, he just didn’t want to have to go home to sit all alone and think about the situation he’d found himself in with Steve. He respected that the man had asked for time to think on everything, but he missed the blond, tremendously. He hoped that no matter what Steve decided to do, that they could still remain a part of each other’s lives in some way or another.

As he cranked up the ACDC, and pulled up all the files he needed to get started, he heard someone banging on his door. He found it odd considering people usually just came in whether he wanted them to or not, but walked over to let the visitor in. To his surprise, Tony found Steve standing on the other side of the door.

“Hi,” the blond said, smiling up at him.

“What are you doing here?” Tony asked, confused as hell.

“I came here to do this,” Steve said, before leaning up, wrapping his hands around the brunet’s neck, and pulling him down for quite possibly one of the most amaziNg kisses Tony had ever been a part of.

Once they pulled away, Tony found himself breathless.

“Sorry,” Steve offered, sheepishly, “I’ve been waiting quite a while to do that.”

Tony was taken aback by Steve’s actions but something suddenly dawned on him.

“Wait so if you just came here to kiss me, does that mean…?”

“It means I don’t know what a relationship with you would look like, but I’m willing to figure it out if you are,” Steve spoke, clearly terrified that the brunet might suddenly reject him.

Tony stepped closer to the blond, taking his face in his hands. He took in every aspect of the man’s face before a huge smile spread on his face.

“I can’t promise you that I’ll always do the right thing and that I won’t always be a pain in your ass. I also can’t promise you that I won’t be a huge mess sometimes.”

“Well, as long as you’re the pleasurable type of pain in my ass, I’ll figure out how to deal with the rest,” Steve offered, mirroring the brunet’s smile.

Tony let out a laugh before leaning in closer to kiss the amazing man in front of him.

“Oh I can tell, we are going to have so much fun together.”


End file.
